ESSAY:
LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT
Like a Thief In the Night is a series of observational images taken during the Spring 2020 lockdown at what was then the height of pandemic - imposed by the state of Washington to counter the spread of the Covid-19 virus. These and andditional images were shown at the ‘virtual’ Stevens Gallery at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington in the winter of 2020.
LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT
In her compelling account of the 1918 Spanish Flu, entitled Pale Rider, author Laura Spinney quotes a Mumbai [sic] health officer who likened the rapid onset of the virus to arriving “like a thief in the night”. Silently and without warning, a symptom-free victim one day became a statistic the next.
In the Spring of 2020 – armed with little scientific understanding of the Coronavirus – we sheltered in place with the hope of avoiding a repeat of the unwitting mistakes made during previous pandemics. As if overnight, human activity ground to a halt, skies cleared, roadways and air routes emptied, leaving even the most populated cities of the world devoid of human activity.
A downtown walk at dusk in the city of Walla Walla, Washington in early April afforded me a unique opportunity to stand safely in the middle of otherwise busy intersections, where I was able to compose my images from new vantage points, with no threat from cars or trucks, and with only a rare sighting of another pedestrian. These photographs-made from early April to mid-May, reveal the strange dichotomy of absence and emptiness, richness and budding new life, as the fear of death arrived in lockstep with the coming of spring. In an effort to accentuate the implausible nature of the pandemic’s affect, post-production has included a narrowing of tonal ranges and selective amplification of color, taking certain artistic liberties, blurring the lines between photograph and illustration, in an effort to represent the altered reality of the time.
The images were largely captured in the light of early evening. Bathed in the quiet stillness of the golden hour, the rich architectural heritage of Walla Walla revealed itself in glorious detail–unobstructed, without distraction, each image standing as witness to a tragically beautiful, ostensibly fictitious moment in time when the entire planet paused and humanity withdrew, seeking shelter from yet another silent, deadly thief in the night.
- JT April, 2020
NOTE: Archival quality, limited edition prints of the images from this collection are still available. For sizes, pricing, and current availability, email the studio.
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